


Bug Bites (one-shots and drabbles)

by Agiani



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:35:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26502238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Agiani/pseuds/Agiani
Summary: A collection of one-shots and drabbles set in the Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir universe. Ratings may vary, but will mostly be T or less. If a particular chapter is an M rating, you will be warned. (I will also change the overall rating at that point.)If you have a suggestion for a one-shot you'd like to see, please PM me.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Plagg/Tikki (Miraculous Ladybug)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 44





	1. Stray Chat Strut

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter came about because I had a vision of Chat Noir singing the song Stray Cat Strut.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien struts his stuff on stage as Chat Noir.

**Stray Chat Strut**

As Adrien and Nino walked into their homeroom class, they were surprised to see Marinette here not only on time but early.

"Thanks again for doing this, Marinette!"

"No problem, Rose. Do you have any ideas about what you want it to look like?"

"A little. I'll have to think on it a bit more."

"Perhaps we can brainstorm some more at lunch or after school?"

"What are you brainstorming?" asked the model.

"Oh, A-Ad-Adrien! You startled me. Rose asked me to design her costume for the talent show next month."

"Then I know it will be perfect," he said. "Are you going to be singing, Rose?"

"I sing with Kitty Section, so I thought I'd do something different. I've always wanted to do Shakespeare because I think Romeo and Juliet is just so romantic! I've asked Marinette to design my Juliet costume."

"Which scene are you going to do?"

"The balcony scene, of course. I already have an idea for the balcony itself."

"Don't you need a Romeo? Who are you going to get?"

"I'm working on that," the blonde girl said shyly. "Marinette, will you do the Romeo costume too?"

"If you want me to. I just need enough lead time to get measurements, fabric, and so on." She looked at Rose seriously for a moment. "If we're going to do this right, then some of those fabrics can be a bit pricey. I'll need you to pay for some of that."

Rose's face fell. "Do you know how much?"

"Not until we go looking. Why don't you come fabric shopping with me when we're to that point?"

"Okay, sounds good! That way I'll know more what we're getting into."

Adrien thought a minute or two, then asked "Marinette… would you design a costume for me, too?"

"I-I-I … erm, I thought your d-dad would insist on designing a costume for you."

"I'm not going to tell him I'm in the talent show. He'd flip."

"Well, then, s-sure. What are you going to do? And do you have a costume in mind?"

"I have the purrfect idea," Adrien couldn't help but pun. Marinette stared. "What?"

"Dare I ask what costume you need me to make?"

"Yeah, but I want it to be a surprise." He leaned over and whispered in Marinette's ear, "I want a Chat Noir costume that I can dance in."

Marinette shivered as she felt Adrien's breath on her neck as he whispered. Then she looked into his face. She could see how sincere he was. And giving her kitten eyes. She melted. "Yeah, I think we can do that. You'll have to go shopping with me though."

"Fair enough."

"Will this Friday work for the two of you?" the designer asked her two performers.

"Sure!" squeaked an excited Rose.

"I'll have to check my calendar, but I think so," said the model.

* * *

The following Friday, three people met in Marinette's room for measurements and to go fabric shopping: Rose, Juleka, and Adrien.

"Let's get the measurements done first because that will help me know how much fabric we need to purchase. Who's first?"

"I'll go first, I'm used to it," smiled Adrien. True, he could have just had his measurements sent over, but that would raise too many questions. Plus, Marinette was a friend he knew he could trust.

Marinette quickly measured Adrien, humming while she did. She blushed as she held the tape at his crotch when measuring the inseam, but was able to push through it. "All done," she squeaked.

"Aren't you going to measure again - to make sure?"

Marinette went beet red. "Um," she cleared her throat. "Yeah, I probably should. Measure twice, cut once after all." She started the measurements again, comparing them to what she had written down. Every single measurement matched.

"Ok," Adrien said stepping down from the little platform they were using. "Who's next?"

"Me!" said Rose. Marinette was able to quickly measure Rose - twice - and then measured Juleka for her Romeo costume. Once they were done, the four friends went to the fabric store.

"Do you have any ideas on the colors you want for your Romeo and Juliet costumes?"

"I like purple a lot," Juleka said softly.

"Maybe some blues as well?"

"Sure." The shy girl turned her head bashfully.

"Pink for me!" squealed Rose.

"Why doesn't that surprise me," chuckled Adrien. "I think I need black," he winked. Marinette just mentally facepalmed. Who knew Adrien was such a dork?

They looked through bolt after bolt of fabric, discarding pattern after pattern until Marinette picked several for both Juleka and Rose.

"Do you do that all the time when you're shopping?"

"Huh?" Marinette turned and looked into soft, green eyes.

"Hum. You've been humming and singing the whole time while shopping," said Adrien. "And while taking measurements, too."

"I have?"

"Yes! Have you ever thought about joining Kitty Section," beamed Rose.

"I couldn't. I have waaaay too many projects," Marinette was thinking about her superhero duties.

"You could sing in the talent show, though," Rose pushed.

"Oh, I couldn't possibly do that. I'd be a nervous wreck."

"Sure you could! I bet you could do anything you set your mind to" gushed Adrien.

_If only that were true, we'd be dating by now,_ she thought. "Nooooo," she replied thoughtfully. "You really think so?" she asked her crush.

"I _know_ so."

"I don't know… being up on stage all by myself..."

"You could do a duet with me," he suggested. Marinette blushed.

"Really?"

"Yeah! Let's do it. Although, since I'll be in costume it's only fair that you are as well…"

"As what?"

"Well, since I'm going as you-know-who," he glanced at their shopping buddies, "you could dress up as his partner."

"Um, no." _That hits waaaay too close to home. And Tikki would kill me._

"Sure! You'd make a great Lady…" he stopped himself. He _did_ want to keep his costume a surprise from the others. "A great lady."

"No, Adrien. Let's pick something else." They wandered over to the various black fabrics.

"The original may be leather, but that's not very move-able or breathable. You'll want something that stretches without getting too thin." Marinette looked at several fabrics with spandex and rayon in them. Some were just plain … cheap. Cheap in appearance, wouldn't look good on stage, and wouldn't hold construction well. While she was looking at fabric, Adrien was looking on his phone.

"Got it! How about this one," he showed it to Marinette.

"I don't know… it's a little revealing."

"It would look GREAT on you. You'd need some white fur trim and a long-haired white wig, but I know you could pull it off. And you could use the same black fabric you'll use for my costume."

Marinette looked at the photo again, then up at Adrien's pleading face. Once again, he was giving her the kitty eyes. "Black Cat" and "Chat Noir" - a pair of black cats. It would be good for a laugh if nothing else.

"Okay, okay, fine. I give. So… what are we going to sing?"

"How about a classic from a musical?"

"Do you have one in mind?"

"How about... " he whispered into Marinette's ear. She blushed prettily, then thought a minute or two and then looked at Adrien again. It just wasn't fair. He could give Manon a run for the doll eyes trophy.

"Guess I'd better start looking at white fur trim. And some flesh-toned fabric like they use in skating outfits." Adrien just laughed.

They spent the next little while finding all the needed fabric and notions (zippers, buttons, etc.), got the fabric cut, and headed to the register. Adrien ended up paying for it all, despite protests from the girls. They all swore they'd pay him back.

* * *

Two weeks later, Marinette was nearly finished with Adrien's costume so she invited him over for a fitting - and song practice.

"Wow, that looks fantastic, Marinette!" Adrien inspected the costume up close. He could swear it looked like the real one.

"Try it on, Adrien. There's a changing screen over there."

"Yours looks good, too. Are you going to let me see how you look in it?"

"Sure," she said as she grabbed her own costume and headed behind a different screen. Soon, the two teens came out in their superhero outfits.

"I was right, you look fantastic!" Marinette blushed in response.

"Here, let me see how that's hanging on you." She smoothed out the lines of Adrien's Chat Noir outfit. "Turn around," she said, giving the costume a critical eye. "Looks like I might need to make an adjustment here. Try dancing around in it."

Giving a princely bow, Adrien held his hand out to Marinette, "Shall we?"

"Hang on." Marinette started a music app on her phone - nothing too mellow… mainly Jagged Stone. They danced and twirled, jumped, split apart & came back together. Adrien even dipped her once.

"I think … that's … enough testing." Marinette was out of breath. "How does it feel?"

Adrien moved his arms in large circles. "Feeling good!" _Almost like the real thing,_ he thought. "Have you figured out how to do the masks?"

"I'm still working on that one. We'll probably need to use Spirit Gum as adhesive."

"Yeah, probably."

"I still haven't figured out the boots yet - for either of us."

"Oh, I have that one figured out. What's your shoe size?"

"Um… a 5 in Ladies shoes. Why?"

Excitedly, Adrien dragged her over to her computer and bumped the mouse. Marinette panicked for just a moment as her desktop screen lit up, then hurriedly picked up the mouse & launched a Web browser.

"What's the website?"

Adrien pulled up a cosplay shop and pulled up both Black Cat and Chat Noir footwear. "I've already got mine in the shopping cart. Let's add yours."

"Oh, Adrien! I-I can't ask you to do that. They're so expensive."

"Your costume was my idea - so I'll pay for the shoes. Besides," he looked a little sheepish, "I don't want to ship them to my house. Too many questions." He looked into her eyes once more. "Can I ship them here? Consider the boots a payment for costume storage space."

"Sure."

"Thank you, Marinette. You're one of my best friends." Adrien grinned happily, while Marinette smiled a little brokenly at her crush.

"Do you have your wig yet? If not, we can get that here, too."

"I haven't had time."

Despite Marinette's protests, Adrien ordered the wig along with the boots and also selected express shipping.

"Well, _'Chat Noir'_ , I think it's time to practice. Don't you?"

"Absolutely, _'Black Cat'_."

With that, they spent the next few hours working on their song and their choreography.

* * *

Adrien waited offstage for his turn to perform. He was a little nervous as he waited since he'd never sung in front of anybody before, not counting the duet practice - Plagg didn't count. He checked it over again - Nino had the music all prepared, the costume looked great (thanks Marinette), and he was pretty sure he had prepared enough.

He looked again toward the stage as Alix finished up her skating tricks, and held tightly to his microphone. The curtains closed, the music started, and Adrien strutted out on the stage using, he hoped, just a _small_ bit of Chat Noir swagger.

" _Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh_ " he sang as he started his performance.  
" _Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh_ " he continued, looking into the crowd.  
" _Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh_ " Adrien looked for a friendly face.  
" _Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh_ " Ah, there she was. Adrien looked right at Marinette as she came in from changing into her costume, and really got into character.

" _Black and orange stray cat sittin' on a fence._

_Ain't got enough dough to pay the rent._ " he sang, starting to relax.  
" _I'm flat broke but I don't care_  
_I strut right by with my tail in the air_ " Adrien playfully twirled his costume's cat tail belt as he ... well, strutted... across the stage.

" _Stray cat strut, I'm a ladies cat_  
_I'm a feline Casanova, hey man that's that_ " Adrien looked for other girls in the audience. His eyes landed on Rose and he started singing to her. She blushed almost as red as Marinette.  
" _Get a shoe thrown at me from a mean old man_ " Adrien playfully jumped to the side, pretending to duck a shoe.  
_Get my dinner from a garbage can_ "

" _Meow!_ " He swiped his gloved, "clawed" hand in the air.

"Yeah, d _on't cross my path!_ "

Adrien crossed the stage, using both Chat Noir swagger and that runway model "look". This time it was Mylene's turn.

" _I don't bother chasing mice around. Oh, no!_ " time to switch targets.  
" _I slink down the alley looking for a fight_ " his eyes looked over the guys, settling on Kim for a brief moment.  
" _Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night_ " Ok, time to move back to the girls. Juleka's turn.  
" _Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry_  
_'Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy'_ " Juleka didn't seem to be feeling the Chat, so it was time to move on. Alix was just coming in a side door after her performance. Adrien looked right at her.  
" _I wish I could be as carefree and wild_  
_But I got cat class and I got cat style_ " Adrien gestured one hand down the length of his costume.

Then he continued swaggering across the stage, dancing a little. Just before starting the next verse, he decided to mix it up a bit and looked straight at Mme. Mendeleiev and Mme. Bustier.

" _I don't bother chasing mice around_  
_I slink down the alley looking for a fight_  
_Howling to the moonlight on a hot summer night_ " Time to change targets again. Alya's turn.  
" _Singin' the blues while the lady cats cry_  
_'Wild stray cat, you're a real gone guy'_ " Time to finish where he started.  
" _I wish I could be as carefree and wild_  
_But I got cat class and I got cat style_ " Adrien looked directly at Marinette again, watching her face flush an even deeper red than before.

He had a huge grin on his face as he finished up with a little twirl of the microphone cord, catching it just as the song ended.

The applause was LOUD.

* * *

Marinette couldn't help staring at Adrien as he started to sing his song. He seemed to look at several people during his performance, but at the end, he seemed to look directly at her. Her heart started pounding, and not all of it because it was time for her to go on stage herself. Adrien smiled at Marinette as she nervously adjusted her mask, picked herself up, and went up on stage.

_Come on!_ Marinette told herself. _You know your routine, you've practiced until you have it memorized, and you're LADYBUG for cryin' out loud!_

Marinette took a deep breath and spoke.

"Anything you can do, I can do better," she said, looking 'Chat Noir' up and down. "I can do anything better than you."

"No, you can't," he said looking at her.

"Yes, I can," she sang.

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can." 'Black Cat' walked around 'Chat Noir'

"No, you can't."

"Yes, I can! Yes, I can!" she looked right at him.

Marinette really got into the performance as she and Adrien danced, twirled, and sang their song. At one point, they reached off stage and got staves.

"Any way you can fight, I can fight better," Marinette sang their adjusted lyrics. "I can fight with a staff better than you."

"No you can't," he said as he twirled his staff.

"Yes, I can!" she lunged toward him.

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can!"

"No, you can't!"

"Yes, I can! Yes, I can!"

As part of their dance, 'Black Cat' and 'Chat Noir' also did a little mock staff fighting. Marinette really got into it. At the end, they landed together and looked out to the audience.

They got a standing ovation - Alya cheering the loudest. Sweating, the model and the designer made their way to the audience and took off their masks. Nino handed them each a small towel.

"Girl, I knew you could do it!" Alya cheered her best friend. "That was incredible!"

"Yeah," Marinette said, a little out of breath. Looking at Adrien she said, "It was claw-some."

"Purr-fect, Milady!" smiled Adrien.

Marinette giggled. "Oh my god! You sounded _just_ like him! No wonder they chose you to voice Chat Noir in that movie." Adrien's blush started at his neck and gradually went up his entire face. "So… what made you decide to do 'Stray Cat Strut' as Chat Noir?"

"Something I saw on the Ladyblog, actually."

"Really," grinned Alya. "What was it?"

"Some of the comments on a post mentioned that Chat Noir seemed to be a bit of a showoff, so I thought 'why not'? And it is a pretty cool song, even if it is old."

"Ok, class," said Mme. Bustier, "thank you for your sharing your talents with us today. I'm sure we all had a good time getting to know more about each other. Remember to turn in your essays on Monday about your experience in preparing for today's show."

The class groaned.


	2. Flirting with Disaster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir challenges Ladybug to flirt with her crush with... interesting consequences.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is pretty much the reveal I have in my multi-part story "Confessions of a Teenage Superhero". Enjoy!

**Flirting with Disaster**

Paris's superheroes ran across the rooftops, enjoying the night's patrol. It was half-serious and half playful as they raced each other to the top of the Eiffel Tower. Ladybug won, as per usual. Panting, she sat down, waiting for her partner to arrive a few seconds later.

"Good one!" she panted. "You gave me a run for the money today, Chat".

"Happy to oblige, Milady," Chat replied with a Cheshire grin on his face. "I love spending time with you."

"Hmmm…" she looked over the city, just marveling at its beauty. "I love living in Paris."

"The City of Love for sure."

Ladybug punched Chat's shoulder, "You're just a huge romantic, aren't you, Kitty."

"Always and forever, Bugaboo."

"Don't call me Bugaboo." Ladybug sat lost in thought. Her mind drifted toward Adrien and today's failed attempt at confessing her love. She sighed.

"What's with the melancholy, Milady?"

Marinette thought about it for a moment or two. She loved her partner - he was her absolute best friend, and she loved working with him, but… this was different. "It's something to do with my civilian life. I … I'm not sure what I can say without revealing who I am. Plus… I don't want to hurt you, Kitty." She looked down.

Chat put his arm around her shoulder, put his claw under her chin, and brought her eyes up to his. "Whatever it is, you can trust me, Ladybug. I purromise."

"It's just… um… you promise you won't be too hurt?" she pleaded.

"Bugaboo, Miladybug, I love you. I am here for you. Like I said, always and forever."

"That's just it." she tried again. "I know you have feelings for me, and I keep rejecting your advances because of the boy I love in my civilian life."

Chat's face fell. He knew this, but it still hurt. He put on a brave face and his model's smile. If he had to be relegated to the friend zone then so be it - at least he'd still be friends with his lady. "It's ok, Ladybug. I know you don't feel the same way about me. I'm still your partner and, more importantly, your friend. Please, talk to me."

"Ok," Marinette took a deep breath. "So… I tried to confess to Ad - the boy I like today. I was almost there when something … well, someone, interrupted us and I just couldn't get it out. I mean, I've had this crush for three years now and it KILLS me that he sees me as just a friend and is totally clueless that I'm in love with him." Ladybug started to tear up, so Chat just hugged her closer, putting all the love he felt into the contact.

"He's an idiot if he can't see how wonderful you are." He looked into those gorgeous bluebell eyes. "You're smart, creative, brave," he moved a strand of hair behind her ear, "beautiful, confident, and the best friend this black cat has ever known."

"Confident, ha." she laughed ironically. "Me? Confident?"

He looked at her seriously. "I can't imagine you not being confident. Able to speak your mind. I mean, look at your speech to the people of Paris back when we first started. You reassured all of Paris that we were here to stop Hawkmoth."

"That's just it, Chat. I can be confident with most people, or in the mask, but around him? I become a madly clumsy, inarticulate fool bumbling my words. Especially in my civilian form. It's like I've got diarrhea of the mouth."

"Well, that doesn't sound too appetizing," Chat joked.

Ladybug playfully punched him on the shoulder again. "The thing is, if I can't tell him how I feel, then how can I know if he likes me that way, too? Or if it would go anywhere at all? And I need to know if it will go anywhere before…" She thought a minute. "You know, I sort of envy the way you're able to just tell me your feelings."

Chat got serious for a moment. "It wasn't that easy," he said. "I tend to hide it behind joking and flirting."

"What can I do, Kitty? I've tried and tried, but nothing works."

"Flirt."

"What?"

"Flirt with him."

"I'm not sure how."

"Wanna practice," Chat smirked. "Come on, Bugaboo. You won't know until you try."

Ladybug looked up at her partner, thought a moment or two, and then said, "Don't get too close to the railing. I don't want you falling hard for me a second time."

Chat smiled. "I'm sure you'd rescue this kitty cat's heart," he said as he took her hand and kissed her knuckles.

Ladybug looked up at his green eyes and moved her hand up along his arm until it brushed over his collar bone. Then she flicked his bell. "Listen, pussycat, I know you like me." She stood up. "But you'll have to catch me!" She ran to the other side of the platform.

"What do I get when I win?" he smirked.

"Hmmm," Ladybug put a finger to her lower lip as she pretended to think. "Let me see… What would you want as your reward, my knight in shining leather?"

Chat leaped forward, Ladybug just skirting out of his grasp. "What I've wanted for three years. A kiss from Milady."

"You had one of those with Dark Cupid."

"Let me be more specific. A kiss to remember." He leaned in close, and Ladybug pushed him back by his nose, as she usually did, laughing. Chat quickly grabbed her by the waist. "Gotcha!" he shouted in triumph.

"That you did, Kitty," she said as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

"See? You can flirt, too," he said. "I enjoyed that, you know."

"But with you, I'm a little more confident. No pressure."

"Bugaboo, you are Ladybug both in and out of the mask. Just summon up some of your Ladybug courage and flirt with your idiot of a crush."

"I can't do it," she sighed.

"Oh, yes you can. Because if you don't, I'm going to pun-ish you." he tickled her.

"Stop, Chat. Oh, this is a cat-astrophe!"

"I think it's purrfect." Chat said in a low voice. Ladybug bopped him on the nose. _Ladybug needs to get this idiot out of her system if I am going to have any chance at all_ , Adrien thought. He thought about it a moment or two.

Ladybug looked at Chat as he suddenly smirked and got a twinkle in his eye. "Oh, no. I know that look," she said.

"Ladybug, I'm issuing you a challenge," Chat said. "A bet, if you will."

"What's the bet?"

"I challenge you to flirt with your crush, so you will know once and for all where this blind idiot of yours stands."

"What are the stakes?"

"Well, if you complete the challenge and he likes you, then you have your reward. I'll leave you alone. If you complete the challenge and he doesn't feel the same way, then I get to continue purrsuing you. But if you chicken out, you go on a date with me. One date."

Marinette thought about it. She could find herself falling for her kitty. Would have most likely already have fallen for him if it wasn't for Adrien.

"Challenge accepted," she said. "I'll report how it goes on our next patrol."

* * *

"Hey, Alya! Hi, Nino" The pair were startled at Marinette's greeting.

"You're here early," said Alya.

"Yeah. I had something I wanted to take care of," she said as she sat down, summoning up some of her Ladybug confidence. Alya and Nino just looked at her. Not only was she sitting on Adrien's desk, but she had ditched her normal outfit for a more form-fitting blouse and a flowing skirt. They didn't see a certain blond model sneak in the door.

"New outfit, Marinette," asked Adrien.

Marinette jumped, just a little. Then she took a steadying breath as she summoned up some of the courage she had as Ladybug, just as she'd promised Chat she would. "Yup. This is something I've been working on for a while. I finished it last night and wanted to show it off today." she said, gesturing over the ensemble, pointing out the ladybugs and black cats sewn into the skirt. "What do you think?"

"I think it's beautiful, Marinette," Adrien said with a smile.

Taking every ounce of confidence she'd been able to summon, Marinette swallowed hard. Then said, "Not as beautiful as you, Sunshine." She then bopped him on the nose and hopped off his desk. "I've got tons of ideas in my sketchbook based on Ladybug and Chat Noir. This is just the first one I've completed. Would you like to see more?" Marinette winked, then bounced to her seat, noticing Adrien's blush.

Nino and Alya just stared.

"Girl, what has gotten into you," Alya whispered to Marinette as she slid into her seat, trying not to tremble. "You've been trying to do something like that for as long as I've known you."

"Let's just say I've accepted the challenge of getting Adrien to notice me as more than just a friend."

"That must have been some challenge," Alya quipped.

"That it certainly was. But I'm not about to lose this bet." Marinette silently thanked Chat for issuing the challenge, as she's not sure she'd have been able to overcome her shy stuttering otherwise. But like she told Alya, this was one bet she didn't plan to lose.

Adrien just sat silently, blushing from head to toe. _What is up with my Everyday Ladybug today?_ He thought.

* * *

"Psst, Marinette," whispered Alya. "What's got into you today?" Marinette went as red as Ladybug's spotted attire. "Come on, girl, spill!"

Instead of answering, Marinette pulled out her phone and replied by text.

**M: I met up with a friend last night. We got talking about our love lives, and he challenged me to make passes at Adrien.**

**Al: He? Is this the same guy that confessed to you the other day?**

**M: Yes, actually.**

**Al: He challenged you?**

**M: Actually, it's more like a bet.**

**Al: A bet? Come on, girl. SPILL! What were the terms?**

**M: That if I couldn't flirt with Adrien, I had to go on a date with him. And I am NOT going to lose this and go on a date with him.**

**Al: I see.**

**Al: Was the outfit part of the bet?**

**M: No. I figured that if I was going to win this bet, I was going to give it my all. What do you think?**

**Al: You have half the boys drooling over you today, M. Including Adrien and Nino. Thanks for that, by the way.**

**M: Then it's working?**

**Al: I'll have to check with Nino to be sure. But I think so.**

"… and that's why we always use personal protective gear in the lab." Mrs. Mendeleiev was saying.

Suddenly, everybody's phones started going off. **AKUMA ALERT!**

Marinette breathed a heavy sigh. _I was just getting started,_ she thought. _At least I can tell Chat that I've met his challenge._

* * *

Adrien sighed heavily as he flopped onto his bed. He'd had a weird day. Between Marinette flirting with him and Ladybug kissing his frog self during the Akuma attack so he could be Chat Noir again, his heart and emotions were all over the place. He sighed again.

"Thinking about your Lady Love? Or is it Pigtails this time?" Plagg snarked.

"Plagg, shut up. I'm thinking."

"Who are you thinking about," the Kwami asked.

"Plagg!" Adrien was quiet for a minute or two, then decided he needed to talk to somebody - even if it was Plagg. "Did Marinette seem… odd to you today?"

"She's a teenage girl. She seems odd every day."

"Get serious," Adrien said to the floating cat. "Normally she can't string two words together around me, and suddenly… I don't know. It's like someone flipped a switch and now there's a different person in Marinette's body."

"Why do you think that is," asked the Kwami.

Adrien thought about it a minute. "I wish I knew, Plagg." The Kwami just rolled his eyes. "I mean she's confident around everyone else. Just not me. At least, not until today when she started _flirting_ at me. And did you see that outfit she made?" He didn't realize it, but his face started turning red at the thought of seeing Marinette in something like that again.

He sighed heavily. "What am I going to do, Plagg? I pledged my heart to Ladybug, and now here comes Marinette. I like her, she's a great friend. And I don't want to ruin that. Besides, I feel like I'd be betraying Milady if I start to have feelings for a … friend." He looked off into the distance, thinking about two girls and trying to sort out his feelings.

Plagg patted Adrien's shoulder. "Kid, like I've said before. You need to open your eyes."

"Huh?" Adrien said as he looked toward the magical creature.

"You'll figure it out. Eventually." _Tikki, I swear to all of creation that next time YOU'RE getting the mopey one._

* * *

The next morning, Marinette made sure she was on time for school. She wanted to arrive just a little early, so she had time to flirt with Adrien again.

Alya was waiting for her on the school steps. "Dang, girl. I thought it looked good on the mannequin, but this? All the guys are going to go crazy! And I really do want one of those t-shirts."

"Maybe I can make one for you," the designer said.

"With as much as you do for the class and everything, you really ought to start charging for your commissions. You are _talented!_ "

"I like making gifts for friends," she said.

Alya caught movement in the corner of her eye as a certain DJ came up to them.

"Morning, Babe," Alya said.

"Hey, my foxy lady," Nino grinned. Then he looked at Marinette. "Woah, Dudette! That's some outfit today." He swallowed a little. "If I weren't already taken by the world's best blogger, my old crush might just come back."

The designer blushed a little. "Is it really that good?"

"Girl, if Adrien is blind to you in that outfit, I'd say he needs an optometrist. Or a shrink," said Alya. The three friends laughed at that.

Just then, they heard a car door shut and looked over as said model was getting out of the car. Adrien waved toward the threesome, not noticing Marinette's full ensemble as she was somewhat hidden behind Nino & Alya.

"Morning, guys," he said as he approached his friends.

"Morning, Adrien."

"Yo, Dude."

"Morning, Sunshine," said Marinette, stepping out from behind her best friend. Adrien's jaw dropped seeing her outfit. Summoning some of her Ladybug courage and flashing a bright smile she said, "What's the matter, Hot Stuff? Cat got your tongue?"

Adrien nearly choked. _Does she know? No… she can't know._ He didn't notice, but Nino nearly choked as well. Alya stared at her boyfriend.

Marinette lifted Adrien's chin with her finger so she could look into his eyes. "Come on, Adrien. We'll be late." Then she simply walked away.

Adrien, Nino, and Alya followed Marinette to class, where she placed her things at her seat. "I think it's a little warm in here," she said as she took off her jacket to place on her chair.

"Yeah, warm," Adrien said as he stared at what the jacket revealed.

The shirt's coloring was split in two, right down the middle. Across the chest was a domino mask, split in half. The half on the left was red with black polka dots and showed up nicely against the black background. The right half was black against the red background. The neckline was a soft curve, and it had standard, t-shirt length sleeves. The stitching was also themed. On the black half, the decorative stitching was Chat Noir's signature neon green, while on the red half the decorative stitching was black. The material was stretchy and soft, similar to spandex, and very comfortable. On the back of the t-shirt, you could see Lady Noir plainly, but if you looked closer you could see it said Ladybug and Chat Noir (with the word "bug" and "Chat" in a smaller font), showing the full names and yet bringing to mind the pairing that most of Paris wanted to see happen. Or at least a certain feline partner did.

Adrien's jaw dropped. "Wow," he said. "M-Mm-Marinette?"

"Yes?"

"H…" (he cleared his throat). "How many L-Ladybug and Chat Noir inspired items are in that p-portfolio of yours?" _Why am I stuttering? It's just Marinette! Beautiful, kind, extremely talented Marinette. And that shirt shows off her curves nicely. Wait… what?_

"Um… quite a lot. I mean, they're out there every day, risking their lives to keep Paris safe. They're quite an inspiration."

"So are you."

"What?"

The model thought fast. "So are you, um, going to enter the _Gabriel Fashions_ design contest?"

"I hadn't thought about it. I mean, designers will be entering from all over France, and probably from around the world." She looked downcast, losing a bit of her confidence. "I'm not sure I could compete at that level."

This time, it was Adrien's turn to put a finger under Marinette's chin and make her look into his eyes. "It's worth a try, though. Right? I mean, look at what you've accomplished already!"

Marinette's heart was beating about a million kilometers a minute. "If, um, if you say so," she blushed, looking down for a minute. Then she cleared her throat and looked right into Adrien's gorgeous green eyes. "You know, I was thinking of adding more heroes to the mix. You know, Rena Rouge, Carapace, and so on."

"Girl, that would be awesome!" squeaked Alya, bringing the two out of their reverie. "Maybe do a Rena Rouge and Carapace shirt similar to the Lady Noir one you're wearing?" the reporter asked hopefully.

"Hmm.," said Marinette. "You may be on to something." She picked up the edge of her skirt. "I was thinking of adding more of the heroes on the skirt here," she said pointing to empty spaces in the skirt's design. "That's something to think about. Or should I do designs based strictly on a particular hero?"

Adrien cleared his throat as he tried to clear his mind. "Marinette, whatever you decide to do with your portfolio, I know you can hold your own in the contest," he said.

"Do you think so?"

"Yes. I bet you'll place very highly, if not an outright win."

"Adrien, you are one of my best friends in the entire world," Marinette said. "But _if_ I decide to enter this contest, I want it to be on my own merits. No helping with the judges. Okay?"

Adrien grasped his chest in mock pain. "I would never use my influence at _Gabriel_ to influence a contest," he said. "That's just wrong."

"And that's just one of the reasons I love you," said Marinette. Then she turned about as red as her superheroine uniform. _Did I really just say that out loud? Oh, crap!_

Adrien was shocked. His sweet, kind, beautiful friend was turning beet red after that statement. She looked just as shocked as he felt. _Oh, wow,_ Adrien thought. _And all this time I thought she was just nervous around me because of who my father is. All those years of trying to get to know her better, and … she had a crush on me? Plagg was right. I am blind._ Adrien just looked at her, stunned, his face also turning a beautiful shade of red. He needed to respond. But how?

After about a minute of complete silence, Adrien plucked up some of his inner Chat Noir, took Marinette's hand in his, and kissed her knuckles. "Thank you, Marinette."

"Pay up," The two teens, not really having paid attention to anything else, looked toward their best friends as Nino put a Euro into his girlfriend's hand. "I TOLD you she'd confess first."

"Wait," said Adrien. "You bet on our love life?"

Before they could answer, Marinette started to laugh, a somewhat hollow sound. "Oh, this is a cat-astrophe," she said, thinking about her feline-themed partner and the results of their bet. "Flirt, he said. You'll never know until you try, he said. When I see him again, I may just skin that leather hide of his. What a disaster! This is just purrfect. Aargh!" She buried her face in her hands.

"Marinette?" Adrien was stunned a second time. "Was that... cat puns?"

"Um, yeah," she looked up. "Sorry, I don't know what I was thinking."

Adrien looked closer at Marinette. Really looked. Over the past day or so, she had shown a confidence he rarely saw in her. And yet… it seemed familiar. He started to picture a red and black mask over her eyes.

"Marinette, I need to ask you something," Adrien said, swallowing hard. "Why," he cleared his throat again. "Um, why have you been so... flirty with me lately?"

"You want the truth?" she asked, burying her face in her arms as she lay her head on her desk.

"Yes, please."

Marinette sighed. Well, the cat was truly out of the bag anyway, so she may as well go for it. "Adrien, the truth is...," she swallowed hard and looked up. "The truth is I've had a huge crush on you ever since you gave me your umbrella on that first day of school three years ago. But I've been tongue-tied every time I try to let you know how I feel."

"What changed?"

"A friend issued me a challenge."

"A challenge?"

"More of a bet, actually. You see, he's had a crush on me for a long time, but I can't return those feelings because of…" she gestured to Adrien. "He's a really nice guy and a great friend, but," she looked up. "Until I know where I stand with you, I can't move forward. He challenged me to flirt with you."

Adrien stopped dead in his tracks. This seemed _very_ familiar. He swallowed hard. "Let me guess. If you weren't able to flirt with me, if you lost that bet, you'd have to go on a date with him?" he asked, hoping it was true.

Marinette looked up and stared into Adrien's eyes. "That's exactly it. And I didn't have a clue how to flirt, so we practiced. I think he liked it a little too much."

_Oh, God. I HAVE been an idiot._ "I think your practice made purrfect," Adrien punned. Marinette looked up at him sharply and saw what she could swear was a patented Chat Noir smirk on Adrien's face. "Marinette, my ma-madly clumsy Everyday Ladybug, I think we need to talk."

Marinette took a sharp breath and replied, "Agreed. I think I've stung this confession out long enough. No use letting it tangle us up any further." When she saw the huge smile on his face she knew he understood the reference. There was no denying it. Her long-time crush was her superhero partner.

"If you two are quite finished, I think it's time for class to begin," said Ms. Bustier.

"Talk to you at lunch," Adrien asked.

"Absolutely."

* * *

Neither Adrien nor Marinette could concentrate much on the lesson as they were both trying to sort out how they felt about what they just discovered about each other.

_Marinette is Milady. My "everyday Ladybug" is the actual Ladybug. Marinette is my superhero partner and my best friend. How could I not have noticed before? She sits behind me in class…_ and so on was going through Adrien's head.

Marinette's thoughts were more along the lines of _Oh my God! I've rejected Chat in favor of Adrien. But Adrien IS Chat. My crush is my superhero partner. I've been rejecting Adrien for Adrien. OMG! I've kissed Adrien at least three times now! Of course, one of those times he was a frog, but…_

In short, the lunch period couldn't get there fast enough.

As the lunch bell rang, Nino grabbed Alya and took her to lunch saying they had things of their own to discuss, while Adrien took Marinette's hand and they went to the nearby park. They sat down on a bench, making sure there was nobody else around.

They looked at each other, quietly trying to figure out what to say. Adrien broke the silence first.

"Milady? It is you, isn't it?"

"Yes, Kitty, it's me." Marinette looked into Adrien's green eyes. "I don't know whether to thank you or skin you for issuing me that challenge." She sighed heavily. "I'm an idiot," she said.

"No more than me. I told you that crush of yours was a blind idiot. And I was right," Adrien blushed. "I can't believe that I didn't see it before."

"What gets me is that I was rejecting you because of my crush on … well, you."

"Now that you know the boy behind the mask, are you… okay?"

"Oh, Adrien, I'm more than OK. To think that my crush and my superhero partner are one and the same. I told you the night you issued that challenge that if it hadn't been for my crush I would probably have developed feelings for Chat."

"And I was being torn in two realizing I had feelings for both Ladybug, who I had dedicated my heart to, and the fantastic girl in my class that I was finally starting to see when she started flirting with me."

"So," Marinette looked shyly up at Adrien. "What do we do now that we know?"

"Just kiss her already, you idiot!" said a small voice. "Enough with all this sweetness, I need cheese!"

"Plagg!" said another small voice. "Let it be. They need to figure this out themselves."

The teens looked up to see the bug and black cat kwamis hovering nearby.

"Nice to see you again, Tikki," said the teenage supermodel.

"Good to see you too, Adrien," the creature of creation replied.

"Hey, Plagg," said Marinette.

"Hello, Pigtails," said the creature of destruction. "You really need to kiss this idiot kid. He's been pining for you something awful."

"Plagg!" both Tikki and Adrien yelled at the same time.

"Come on, Stinky Sock. Let's leave them be for a while," Tikki said as she grabbed the black kwami's hand.

"Anything for you, Sugarcube," he responded fondly as they disappeared into a nearby tree.

"So…" said Adrien shyly.

"So…" said Marinette. Then she did something she never thought she'd do in a million years. She reached toward Adrien and kissed him, full on the lips. He was surprised at first, but then naturally just leaned into the kiss, deepening it, reaching for her waist and supporting her back. It was sweet, tender, and held all of the pent up feelings that they hadn't been able to express for over three years. They only broke apart once they needed some air.

"Wow," said Adrien. "That was…," he thought for a moment, "… definitely a kiss to remember."

"Unlike the other times?"

"It's not fair that you remember that kiss during Dark Cupid and I don't," Adrien pouted.

"Truth be told, I only did that to get my partner back." Marinette bopped Adrien on the nose. "I had no idea I was kissing the love of my life at the time," she grinned.

"We're going to need to go over just about every conversation we've ever had," Adrien said.

"Yeah," sighed Marinette. "You know something? Alya was right about that Frog Prince kiss the other day. There definitely had to be some feelings there for the kiss to break the Akuma's spell."

"I'm glad there was."

The alarm on the phone started to beep. "I think we ought to grab something before we go in, don't you?" Adrien asked. "My treat. Consider this a first date."

Marinette blushed, but accepted Adrien's arm as they called for their kwamis and headed out of the park, bought some food from a cart, then walked toward the school.

"Adrien, are we ... official?"

Adrien stopped for a brief moment, then turned to the petite girl beside him. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, would you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?"

"Yes, Adrien."

"It's about time!" yelled a hidden black cat creature.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To see the rest of the story (still in progress), check out "Confessions of a Teenage Superhero", both here and on Fanfiction dot Net.


	3. You had a Miraculous?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien and Marinette tell each other about being Miraculous holders

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had an idea for a one-shot. This isn't it. This is what I ended up typing as I was thinking of that other idea, and I decided it needed to be its own story.

**You had a Miraculous?!**

"Marinette, your friend is here."

"Send him up, Mom. And, thanks!" Marinette's heart started beating faster. _Calm down, Marinette! You're working on a school project, not asking him out,_ she chastised herself. Marinette was still crushing on Adrien – hard – but had decided that it would be better not to stress over asking him out and just concentrate on being a better friend. It took her over a year to come to that conclusion, but hey… it seemed to be working.

Soon enough, she heard a knock at her trap door. "Come in, Adrien," she greeted brightly. "You ready to study? Or should I kick your butt at UMS first?"

Adrien laughed, his radiant smile lighting up the room. "We'd probably better actually work on our project first, don't you think? I can beat you at Mecha Strike later."

"In your dreams, Sunshine Boy! Come on, let's get started."

The two teens had been paired up for a project concerning social media and its impact on society. They looked for evidence from various social media and news sites: Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, among others. Soon they were looking over the various stories and photos on the Ladyblog, their project all but forgotten.

"Ugh, I can't believe all the comments on artwork of Ladybug and Chat Noir kissing, of all things," complained Marinette.

"I don't know, Marinette. There is lots of photographic evidence of them kissing. That incident on top of Montparnasse Tower, for example." Adrien smiled.

"Oblivio, you mean?"

"Yeah," he sighed dreamily, thinking about how if his Lady fell in love with him during that Akuma that he could win her heart again.

"They lost their memories. So what could have possessed Ladybug to kiss her partner when she's been so adamant that they're not a couple?" Marinette wondered aloud. She's actually wondered this for a while.

"I don't know. Maybe their time had run out & they detransformed?"

"Maybe. But wouldn't they have to stop being a hero if that happened?"

"What makes you say that," Adrien asked.

"Um…, uh…, well…," Marinette felt she was backed into a corner. The only way out of this was to admit she'd been a Miraculous holder. "You have to _**swear**_ you won't tell anybody what I'm about to tell you."

"I promise," he said, nearly purring.

"Well," she said shyly, "I was a temporary holder once."

"Really? Which one?" He knew, of course, since he was there (as Chat Noir) when Marinette faced Kwamibuster.

"The Mouse Miraculous. I was Multimouse."

"Wow, Marinette." He thought that he should share his own experience. "On that note, um…" He paused. "You have to swear you won't tell _**anybody**_ "

"I promise."

"I have been a temporary holder, too."

"Really?" Marinette had to fake that this was news to her. "Who were you?"

"I actually held the snake Miraculous before Viperion did. I called myself Aspik."

"Why did you stop?"

"I didn't do very well as the snake," he said sadly. He remembered all those months of resetting the timeline. "I saw Ladybug dying over and over and over again. Eventually, I couldn't handle it anymore."

Marinette reached out & gave him a hug. It seemed that it still bothered him.

"You know what, Marinette? I think you would be a great hero."

"You do?"

"Of course! After all, you're our ' _Everyday Ladybug_ '."

"You've called me that before," she said.

"That's because it's true."

"If I'm an ' _Everyday Ladybug_ ', then can I call you our ' _Everyday Chat Noir_ '?"

Adrien laughed at that. _If only you knew,_ he thought. "Why not?"

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing homework and playing video games, Marinette thoroughly trouncing Adrien at Ultimate Mecha Strike – except for the time he won by distracting her by kissing her on the cheek.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The other idea I had that this morphed from? That will be a different one-shot.


	4. Adrien Akumatized!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien is targeted by an Akuma butterfly and goes to the one place he feels safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is still not the idea I had for the one-shot I mentioned last chapter. This is actually a scene I was thinking about for my story "Confessions of a Teenage Superhero", but that went in a different direction. So I modified the note and made this.
> 
> As always, I own nothing about the "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir" franchise - just my plots.

**Adrien Akumatized!**

Adrien's mind was whirling as he ran away from the mansion, feeling like the world was falling out from under him. His father had always been a little cold and distant, even controlling, and ever since his mother disappeared it had gotten worse. That could explain it, but now he had to reconcile the fact that Gabriel Agreste, his own father, is ... Hawkmoth. Adrien was more than worried. He was depressed. His thoughts just kept spiraling.

_Father is Hawkmoth… I am Chat Noir… all the battles we've fought… all the times he's nearly killed me as I was protecting Ladybug… Ladybug! She was right about Hawkmoth's identity… What am I going to tell her? HOW am I going to tell her without revealing my identity?… Should I reveal my identity to her?… Hawkmoth has been living in the same house as me… Father, why would you do this?… Hawkmoth…_

"Kid, we've got to get out of here!" Plagg's eyes narrowed as he saw the telltale purple and black butterfly heading their way. "Run!" He warned.

Adrien took off the Cat Miraculous and held it out. "Plagg, take this to Ladybug! I may not be able to resist. Tell her what's going on!" With that, Plagg took off, and the Akuma settled on Adrien's shirt.

" **Squire, you know the pain of losing family. I grant you the power to rescue those you hold dear."** The voice in his head was smooth, persuasive, and totally like his father. Adrien swore he would not give in… or at the very least he'd resist for as long as he could. Hopefully, he'd be able to hold out until his Lady arrived.

" **You know what, Hawkmoth? You're an asshole!"**

" **I can make you powerful."**

" **I have power enough, thanks. And a lot more fame & money than I've ever wanted."**

" **I can give you what you most want."** Seriously, did Gabriel never figure out what he wanted the most was time with him? Encouragement? An actual, loving parent?

" **Yes, you could have,** _ **FATHER**_ **. But you haven't! Instead of giving me the support I've needed, you've played at creating supervillains! Apparently I'm not as important as terrorizing Paris. So bugger off!"**

In his befuddled state, Adrien started wandering. Without consciously thinking about it, he went to the one place, the one _person_ other than Ladybug he thought could help him overcome the darkness… and finds himself at the Dupain-Cheng Boulangerie Patisserie.

The shop door chimed as he stumbled in. "Marinette… help me!"

"Oh, dear," said Sabine Cheng as she saw Adrien's face. "Go, Marinette. We'll be OK without you for a while."

"Adrien?" Marinette saw the purple mask that meant Hawkmoth was communicating with his Akuma victim. "Oh my god, Adrien!" She drags him up to the apartment in the living room, gives him a hug, and keeps hugging him and stroking his hair, comforting the boy.

"You are loved, Adrien. You have great friends and people who will stand by you no matter what. Please don't give in," she begged. He stared at her, tears forming in his eyes. "I don't know what I'd do if you gave in. I _need_ you, Adrien. I… I love you!" Marinette cried.

Adrien stared, wide-eyed at this revelation. "Really?" he sniffed as he smiled. Adrien's face fell. "I'm afraid you won't love me anymore," he said sadly.

"Why ever not?"

"Because my father is Hawkmoth!" he said bitterly. "I just found out… " He started to lose control. Then his body went rigid as the purple mask formed over his eyes again.

" **You have been a dutiful son, Adrien. Submit so our family can be whole once again. I need you!"**

" **Why the hell should I, Hawkmoth? You destroyed our family with this goal of yours, whatever that is. You'll never get the Ladybug or Black Cat Miraculous because I WON'T LET YOU!"**

"Adrien, stay with me. Adrien?! I'm here." Marinette continued to hug the boy and stroke his blond locks. "I love you, really I do."

"You're just saying that you love me. You don't mean it."

"Yes, I do!" This was not the way Marinette would have preferred to confess her love, but she didn't think about that right now.

At that point, Plagg entered the room through a window, making sure nobody but Marinette (and Tikki) could see him. He made sure to catch Marinette's eye as he held up the miraculous, then nodded toward Adrien. To say she was floored was an understatement. She started to go into panic mode, but then looked at the boy in her arms. She couldn't afford to spiral right now. So, she did what she could.

Adrien… Chat Noir… needed her now more than ever. "I've loved you ever since you gave me your umbrella on the second day of school. Why do you think I kept stuttering whenever I was around you?" She gave him a shy, bashful smile. "I know you have no control over what your father tries to do. Stay with me, please," Marinette cried. "I need you, Adrien! Together we can fight Hawkmoth's influence. Together we can do anything. It's you and me against the world!"

She could see him still struggling, the battle written all over his face. Nothing for it now but to go for broke. "Come on, Kitty. I need you!"

That snapped him out of it. Did she just call him "Kitty"? But that would mean…

Adrien's thoughts began another spiral, though this was a positive one. How could he have missed it? "Marinette. My everyday Ladybug. I… I can't believe I was so blind. I… I love you, too."

At this point the negative feelings were gone, leaving only the brightly shining love between the two miraculous holders. The purple and black butterfly left Adrien's shirt.

"Are you going to be ok, Adrien?" Marinette looked over at him.

"For a few minutes, anyway. Go, Milady, and do what you need to do. Then, come back to me? We should talk."

"I'll always come back to you, Adrien. Always and forever." Marinette put all her love into the hug before she disengaged and called for her transformation so she could catch the Akuma. "I'll be back before you know it, Kitty. Then you and I can talk about how to defeat Hawkmoth once and for all."

"Bugaboo…"

"Yes, Kitty?"

"I'm glad it's you."


	5. You have ANOTHER Miraculous?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ladybug and Chat Noir reveal their identities to each other with ... unexpected results.  
> [Takes place after "You had a miraculous?" (Chapter 3).]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one-shot is totally the fault of a review (thank you very much!). After the reviewer's comments on "You had a Miraculous!" (Chapter 3), I decided I had to see the duo's reaction to being Aspik and Multimouse after the reveal of Ladybug and Chat Noir.
> 
> This is still not the story I had in mind several chapters ago.
> 
> Reminder: I own nothing but the plot.

**Chapter 5 - You have ANOTHER Miraculous?!**

"Are you sure about this, Milady?"

Ladybug looked up at Chat Noir shyly, but determined. "As ready as I'll ever be, Kitty. On three?"

"Okay. One…"

"Two," she joined in.

On "Three!" the two superheroes detransformed. For a moment they just stared at each other, stunned.

"Adrien?"

"Marinette?"

"I'm glad it's you!" they said at the same time, then laughed, crushing each other in a huge hug.

"I can't believe that my crush has been my pun-loving partner this whole time."

Adrien blushed. "Your crush, huh?" he teased.

"You never noticed?"

"I'm not _that_ oblivious. I was just so blinded by spots that I didn't see my classmate clearly."

"Maybe you needed glasses," she quipped. He playfully punched her on the arm.

Marinette snorted. Then her eyes went wide. "Oh my god, this explains Oblivio!"

"The superhero kiss, you mean?"

"Yeah." She looked up at the blond. "You know we had to have detransformed at some point during that battle, right?"

"Uh, huh."

"With our memories erased I know I would have tried everything to find out our identities. I'm pretty sure I'd have looked at my ID and phone, and... I had you as my phone's wallpaper."

"I had a Ladybug photo gallery." He smiled shyly, "Still do, actually."

"And yet you couldn't find me in civilian form, though we hung out a lot."

"I saw enough of you to call you our 'Everyday Ladybug'."

"Okay, my 'Everyday Chat Noir'," she laughed. Then she remembered the conversation leading up to that nickname and gasped. "Aspik!"

"What? I mean, you knew I was Aspik. You gave me the miraculous."

"Yeah, but I'm remembering our conversation from a while ago. When I told you I had been Multimouse and you told me… about… oh. my. God. You were there! You were there on the TVi roof during Kwamibuster. You saw me as Multimouse!"

"And as Ladybug. How did you pull that off?"

"One of the mini-mes had the Fox miraculous."

Adrien snorted. "Of course." He kissed her forehead. "Brilliant as ever, Milady." He paused. "You know, I was suspecting you were Ladybug just before we fought Kwamibuster."

"And I was suspecting you, but Tikki suggested I come up with a way to convince you I wasn't."

"Plagg suggested the same thing. That's why I said I thought Francois Dupont was an elementary school."

"It worked." She smiled.

"Your solution was better."

"I'm just glad I got your miraculous back. That banana costume though…"

"I needed something to hide my identity. And it was lying around."

"Is that the reason behind BanaNoir?"

"With 'Feast'? Yeah, one of them anyway…"

The conversation continued through the night as they discussed all the ways the miraculous had changed their lives. And they decided that they would need to revisit all the conversations they'd ever had.

"I can't believe you had another miraculous," they said at the same time, paused, and laughed until they cried tears of joy.

"Will you two just kiss already," snarked a voice from nearby.

"Plagg!" Tikki swatted her counterpart while the two love-birds blushed furiously.


	6. Fan Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alya, Nino, Marinette, and Adrien look at Ladybug and Chat Noir fan art.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally! This is the one I've wanted to post since Chapter 3, though of course it's changed a bit since then.

**Chapter 6 - Fan Art**

Four friends were out enjoying the beautiful Parisian summer day. They were excited because their friends Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Marc Anciel had finally been able to publish their first serialized Ladybug and Chat Noir comic book, and the four teens were on a hunt. Unfortunately, they were having no luck.

"Didn't Nathaniel say that he posted some of the comic book art on a Website," asked Adrien.

"Oh, yeah! What was it called again?" Marinette had no idea what the site was called.

"Art something-or-other," said Nino "Art Deviations, I think."

"That's it! Hang on." Alya dug out her phone. "I look up fan art for the Ladyblog all the time, and that's one of my go-to sites." She gave up after a few minutes. "Ugh, this screen is too small for all of us! Plus we've been looking for the comic book for _hours_. I say we go back to Marinette's, grab some snacks, and look up the art on Art Deviations."

"Oh, I see how it is," teased Marinette. "You guys only like me for my snacks."

"Yup," deadpanned Nino.

"That's it, guys. You're getting yesterday's leftovers."

"You wouldn't do that to us, would you," asked Alya.

"Or nothing at all." Adrien gasped audibly, purposely being overdramatic. Marinette may have sounded serious, but she had a definite twinkle in her eye.

The four friends laughed as they made their way toward T&S Boulangerie Patisserie. Once they arrived, they headed straight up to Marinette's room while she gathered a plate of snacks. She set them down on her desk while the others gathered around her computer screen (she was just glad she'd finally mellowed down her Adrien shrine – at least the obvious one).

"Got it!" Alya was triumphant as she pulled up the Website. "Anyone know his user name?"

"Uhhh… no idea."

"Sorry, babe."

"Let's just search for it," suggested Marinette, and they did just that. The four teens scoured the site, looking for Nathaniel's art. They didn't have much luck – but they did find a lot of other art based on Ladybug and Chat Noir.

"Wow, some of this is really good," Marinette gushed. "Look at this one!"

"I like the faces in this action pose here," said Nino, pointing out one where Ladybug and Chat were fighting what looked like Gigantitan.

"That's an interesting take. Like if the Miraculous Cure didn't work all the way," Marinette saw one that showed Ladybug holding a first aid kit, tending to wounds on Chat Noir's arm.

"That's not even the best stuff on this site. Look here." Alya clicked a link and went into the LadyNoir section of the site. She pointed out one that was obviously based on the kiss after Oblivio. "Just look at the love in their eyes! If only the real 'ship' would sail."

"Wait, what's that one?" Adrien pointed at one of the thumbnails. It looked like the two superheroes were lying down. As Alya clicked on the image, Marinette tried to get closer to see.

"Is that…" she paused, going slightly red.

"Um, yeah." Adrien nearly choked as he realized he was looking at his own bare rear end … sort of. "They're not wearing much, are they. I mean, all I can see is masks and sheets." Marinette squeaked a little.

"The artist certainly has… um, imagination," said Nino.

"Can we click a different image, please?" If possible, Marinette's blush was redder than her superhero suit. "Alya, please tell me you don't post stuff that… risque on the Ladyblog."

"The Ladyblog is a public forum for all ages, so I keep the actual images as PG as possible. I'll link to this site, but point to the more … sedate images." She clicked a different image. "Oh look, this one is a comic strip."

The group read the comic. The quality wasn't as good as Nathaniel and Marc's, but it had a decent story. They clicked on another image.

"Hey, this looks like his stuff," Marinette was relieved to finally see what they had been looking for. "What's the user name?"

Adrien looked closer at the screen. "SuperNathaniel."

"We should have guessed. Isn't that what he named himself before he was Akumatized into Evillustrator?"

"You know, Marinette, I think you're right," said Alya.

The teens spent the rest of the afternoon reading Nathaniel and Marc's comic they had posted on the site.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea for this came from thinking about Adrien and Marinette (alone together) looking at fan art and blushing at some of the more ... mature ... fan art that is out there.


	7. How to Survive a Convention

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The miraculous heroes attend the local multimedia convention and meet a rather interesting special guest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the "Unconventional Scenarios" series of stories written by Remasa, posted on FFN and AO3. The first one is "Fanboy".   
> (Seriously, read them! They're awesome.)

**How to Survive a Convention, or  
**" **If Constant Attacks Don't Work then _Try Something Else_!"**

Conventions are a huge thing. Any business person will tell you that sales and marketing conferences can make or break a business. Any fashion house will tell you that Fashion Week is an absolute _must_ if you are going to be a "Big Name" in fashion like Ralph Lauren, Coco Chanel, or Gabriel Agreste. And any nerd will tell you that the best conventions of all time center around pop culture.

Whether it's superheroes, movies, anime, sci-fi, or the resident Heroes of Paris, _Convention du Comique_ had it all: panel discussions, costume contests, games, themed merchandise (both popular and unique), a media room, stars, and this year even Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves. Maybe.

When it came to those who portrayed beloved characters, schedules were always hit and miss. Doubly-so for the actual superheroes who had real supervillains to fight. Still, Adrien Agreste was looking forward to going - if he could manage to convince his father.

Adrien, having voiced Chat Noir in the animated Ladybug and Chat Noir movie, was asked to attend as a guest speaker along with others involved in the film.

As owner of the Ladyblog, Alya, was also asked to attend as a guest, and to extend an invitation to Ladybug and Chat Noir via her blog. The fact that Ladybug was supposed to be there was a huge bonus, in Adrien's opinion. He would take any chance he got to see his Lady. Plus being there as a guest would make it easier for his alter-ego to show up. With this in mind, Adrien knocked on his father's office door…

"Father?"

"What is it, Adrien," the designer said coldly. "What is so important that Nathalie couldn't take care of it? I've got a lot of work to do on the upcoming line."

"Then I'll make it quick. It's just that…"

"Just that what?"

"You know that _Convention du Comique_ is coming up soon, right?"

"What about it?"

"I've been asked to participate as a celebrity guest. You know, from voicing Chat Noir for the movie?"

"Yes. That was a good idea of mine."

Adrien skipped that statement and continued on with his request. "Well, I've been asked to come because it will make the discussion panels more complete. They'll have Christina V there. She voiced Ladybug in the movie, remember? Also Thomas Astruc, the director, and several others that were involved in the movie. I want to go."

"No."

"Why? It will please my fan base, and I'll be wearing clothes from your line, so it will also be good for _Gabriel Fashions_. Plus there will be security there and, of course, my bodyguard will be there as my Plus One." Adrien had put a lot of time into researching his arguments and was sure they would sway his father.

"Your schedule is already full, Adrien."

There are no fencing tournaments coming up and I can rearrange my Chinese and piano lessons to accommodate the new schedule. Plus, Ladybug and Chat Noir are supposed to come in person! I don't want to miss seeing them." He didn't mention that there were other things he also wanted to see.

"They are?"

"If they can. I'm sure it will depend on if there are any Akuma attacks the day they're supposed to be there. I'd really like to see Ladybug again. I mean, she's saved me a few times, and I don't think I've ever really thanked her."

Gabriel thought a moment or two. While he didn't like Adrien getting hung up on seeing his enemy, the thought of being close to the miraculouses he needed was almost too tempting to pass up. Especially as his time was running out.

"Let me think about it."

"The convention will need an answer by next week. Thank you for thinking about it."

And with that, Adrien walked out of his father's office.

* * *

The next morning, school, or at least Ms. Bustier's class, was buzzing with excitement. After all they had not one, but two possible guest speakers at the upcoming _Convention du Comique_.

"Alya, you really got invited as a guest speaker?" Max asked.

"All due to my work on the _Ladyblog_. Can you believe it?"

"That's awesome!" Mylene commented.

"So cool," said Juleka.

"I'm sad."

"Why, Nino?"

"Because I won't be able to see my beautiful babe all weekend."

"Oh, you oblivious boy," Alya chided her boyfriend. " _Conv du Com_ is giving me a Plus One. Who else would I ask?"

Nino chuckled. "You sly fox." Alya just grinned.

"My plus one has to be the Gorilla. If I'm allowed to go."

Marinette's mood dropped at that statement. Adrien's father had to let him go. He just _had_ to! If he didn't then Adrien would be sad, and Marinette hated seeing him that way. He had too much sadness in his life already.

"I really want to go, too. I want to see Ladybug."

"And Chat Noir, right?" Marinette hated it when people left her partner out.

"Who cares about him," the snooty tone echoed across the room. "He's just Ladybug's sidekick."

"Chloe, he is _not_ just a sidekick! Ladybug couldn't do half the things she does without him by her side," Marinette defended passionately as she turned to Adrien. "You meant you wanted to see Ladybug _and_ Chat Noir, right?"

Adrien couldn't very well say he saw Chat Noir every time he looked in a mirror, so instead he replied, "Him too, of course. But she has literally saved my life before, and I haven't thanked her properly."

Marinette tried to hide her blush. Adrien wanted to thank her!

She had seen Alya's request via the Ladyblog, of course, but wasn't sure she wanted to go because she had assumed this was going to be like that interview with Nadja Chamak. But... if it meant she could see Adrien's rare, genuine smile light up his face, well, she was more inclined to go. Plus, she wanted to reassure people that she and Chat were fighting for the people of Paris against Hawkmoth and his Akumas. She didn't like being in the spotlight - Chat seemed more at home there, though she generally took the lead.

Hmmm, maybe she could use this as a way to encourage people to be nicer to each other. The more she thought about it, the more she thought attending the convention would be a good idea. There was already too much negativity in the world, and Hawkmoth preyed on it. This would be a chance to counter some of that negativity.

"I hope you'll be able to go, Adrien. I'm sure Ladybug and Chat Noir will be there, if they can." Marinette's positivity brightened up Adrien's day. He just had to hope his father agreed to his request.

* * *

When Marinette got home from school that day, she was ready to jump into plans on how to convince Gabriel Agreste to let Adrien go to _Conv du Com_. She didn't get far.

"Marinette, before you go upstairs we need to talk to you."

She took her foot off the stair as she turned around to the diminutive woman. "Sure, Mom. What is it?"

"We received an email today." Both Sabine and her larger-than-life husband seemed to be bouncing on the balls of their feet.

"Should I be worried?"

"Not at all, my sweet," boomed Tom. "In fact it's good news. Apparently Jagged Stone isn't the only one who recognizes your talent."

Eyes narrowed and head cocked to the side, Marinette asked, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you know that multimedia convention that's coming up, the _Convention du Comique_?" Marinette could only nod. "Apparently, someone mentioned that Clara Nightingale's 'Miraculous' originally had auditions for Ladybug, and that you were chosen."

"Okay."

"Sweetie, they want you as a guest speaker for a breakout panel."

"Me? I didn't actually do anything. Clara Nightingale was Akumatized before the music video was filmed, and the end result had everyday people in everyday clothes wearing masks."

"But you helped create the masks, sweetie," Sabine cooed.

Tom piped in, "And weren't most of the people actually in the video your friends?"

"So what, they want me to talk about designing?"

"And being chosen for the part originally. There's also a graphic arts panel that they want you for, since you designed Jagged Stone's album cover. It's sort of a two-fer."

"They really want… me?"

"Yes, my lovely, talented daughter. You. So now the question is… are you taking me or your mother as your plus one."

* * *

That night after patrol, Chat Noir approached Ladybug about the subject.

"Milady, before you leave for the night, did you see the request on the Ladyblog?"

"About attending _Convention du Comique_ , you mean?"

"Yes. I was wondering if we should plan to go," he asked hopefully.

"I didn't want to, at first, at least not at Ladybug, but the more I think about it the more I think we should. Hawkmoth permitting, of course."

Chat deflated a bit, "It would be just like him to ruin something like that."

Ladybug sighed heavily. "Ugh, just once I'd love for my life to not be interrupted by an Akuma. I've got so much on my plate as it is."

"I completely understand that, Milady. Between being Chat Noir and my civilian schedule, it's amazing I have time for friends at all. That's one of the reasons I want to go." Then he leaned forward, as if imparting a secret. "Plus they'll have all sorts of cool stuff from my favorite movies and shows, and I'll get to meet the people that make it happen!"

"I hear that the boy who voiced you in that movie is supposed to be there." Ladybug tried to hide her blush.

"I heard that, too. Plus the girl who voiced you as well as the director - you know, the guy who became Animaestro?"

"I actually have a bit of a bone to pick with him. Or the writer. I am **NOT** afraid of cats." The sparkle of defiance in her eyes spoke volumes.

"Glad to hear it, Milady," teased the leather-clad hero. "Seriously, though, we're planning on going?"

"Yes. I'm working on a way to get my civilian self there so I won't give my identity away."

"I'm working an angle for my alter ego as we speak. But I have another concern." Chat Noir leaned forward. "Have you ever been backstage for a large event like _Conv du Com_?" Ladybug's tilted head and confused expression gave him his answer. "I have. No matter how good an event is planned, something always goes wrong. Therefore someone is always backstage directing traffic, advising of last minute changes and so on. We are going to need a way for our civilian selves to get the information without giving our identities away."

"Hmmm." Ladybug thought for a moment. "Burner phone? Uh, those are expensive and I don't have cash to spend on one. We could try something like Gugle's IP voice program, but I'm concerned about privacy because it's Web based. Ugh. If only we could forward our bug- and cat-phone numbers to our... civilian... phones. Chat! Let's try that."

"What, forward the cat-phone to my civilian phone?"

The brightness in Ladybug's eyes and her excited expression spoke volumes. "Yes! Talk to Plagg when you get home and try it. I'll do the same. Then in 90 minutes, I'll transform and call you."

"Sounds like a plan, Milady. Shall we?"

"We shall. Bug out!" Ladybug shouted as she flung her yo-yo across the city.

90 minutes later, Adrien Agreste received a call from an unknown number. "Hello?"

"Kitty?"

"Milady! It worked. I'm speaking to you on my civilian phone."

"Great. I'm calling from the Bug-phone. Mark this number, then give me 5 minutes and we'll test it the other way. Then I'll work on letting the convention organizers know that we'll try to attend."

* * *

Gabriel sat in the sanctuary below the mansion, a chair pulled up to the suspended animation unit holding his beloved Emilie. He stroked the clear cover by her face, bemoaning the fact that he was not able to touch her, and talked as if she could hear him.

"I have tried, my love. I keep trying and I fail." A tear leaked from his eye, something he would never allow anyone to see. "I promised you that I would do everything in my power to bring you back to me and restore our family." He stroked the coffin-like enclosure once more. "I feel so lost without you."

"Adrien approached me today, bypassing Nathalie. He's grown so much that sometimes I don't recognize him." Gabriel steadied his breath. "He asked me about attending a popular media convention. I denied his request at first, but he'd come prepared with some good arguments. I must admit that the one that swayed me the most is the fact that Ladybug and Chat Noir will be there."

He looked at his dearest love through the glass once more, remembering the laughter she used to bring into the cold home. "I'm running out of time to save you, and I don't know what to do." His glistening eyes were the only indication of his deep heartache.

"Master," the high-pitched voice of his Kwami spoke.

"Nooroo, I thought I said never to disturb me as I spoke with Emilie."

"Yes, Master. I just wanted to answer your implied question."

"Go on."

"You are running out of time to revive her. Akumatizing people isn't working, so why not try another method."

Gabriel's practiced glare at the purple sprite was known to cause even those with backbone to quit. "What are you on about, Nooroo?"

"Ask for help." Gabriel stared at the floating god of transmission - asking for help is not something he normally did, magical butterflies being the exception. "If you tell Ladybug and Chat Noir _why_ you desire to make the wish, they may have a solution you haven't thought of."

For once, the purple sprite made sense. And he knew where he would be able to see them. As a bonus, if it didn't work out there was usually someone ready to Akumatize at these things.

* * *

The next morning as Adrien was eating his lonely breakfast and getting his schedule from Nathalie, he had a surprise visit.

"Adrien, I have decided to let you attend the _Convention du Comique_ , but I have certain stipulations." Gabriel said in a near monotone voice.

The blond model tried not to show his excitement - who knows what those 'stipulations' would be. "What are they?"

"First, we will try not to schedule photoshoots over the time of the event, but that means having extra ones beforehand or afterward. Your other extracurricular activities will be accommodated in a similar fashion.

Second, your grades must remain at the same high caliber I have always expected of you.

Third, you will not take your bodyguard as your Plus One. I will be attending instead."

"Wait, really? You want to come with me?"

"It occurred to me that we rarely spend time together any more, and I want to rectify that. I'll still be busy and will probably need to step aside now and then to take care of business, but I also want to share in your interest. And who could pass up the opportunity to meet the Heroes of Paris?" The corners of Gabriel's mouth barely twitched, but that was nearly a cheesy grin where the austere designer was concerned.

Adrien jumped up. "Thank you, Father!" he cried as he hugged the senior Agreste. Gabriel stiffened for just a moment before placing a fatherly hand over Adrien's shoulder.

"Now, it's nearly time for school. Nathalie will send an official response accepting your guest appearance and coordinate our schedules."

* * *

Soon, the day of the convention arrived. Between civilian and superhero panels, most of Ms. Bustier's class (and a few others) had packed schedules. Alya had convinced Ladybug to ask the convention organizers if the backup heroes would be allowed. They were thrilled. As a result, Rena Rouge, Carapace, Pegasus, King Monkey, and Viperion were all scheduled to speak at various panels. Ryuko was unsure if she could attend, but had been given her miraculous just in case. Queen Bee… still wasn't trusted after the Miracle Queen incident.

Additionally, the convention had decided that they would allow the Akuma victims to get in for free - if they dressed as their villain persona and could prove who they were. Much of the class had asked Marinette to help with costumes, and she did what she could. (Alya had a great Lady WiFi costume, but Nino refused to go as Bubbler. Kim's Dark Cupid was decent, though Max's Gamer had to be one of the best.)

Adrien, true to his word, had offered to wear clothing from _Gabriel Fashions_ , but Gabriel let that slide as long as Adrien wore the Chat Noir costume he had made for Clara Nightingale's "Miraculous" video, and Gabriel went as The Collector. Adrien generally kept the mask around his neck, claiming his face was too hot otherwise.

Marinette went as Anti-Bug, including a blonde wig, while her mother dressed as Ladybug. (Tom was not happy to be reminded that he had a business to run and made his "girls" promise to have a fun time and bring back souvenirs… and a copy of any new games that were on his list.)

Adrien and Marinette's panel about the music video was up first. The room was packed with a combination of superhero fans and Adrien groupies. Gabriel, and Sabine were in the first row. Knowing how nervous Marinette could get, Adrien squeezed her hand before their entrance. They were assigned to sit next to each other, so every once in a while Adrien patted Marinette's knee as she was searching for words. Sometimes this helped, and sometimes she ended up a gibbering mess as her brain disconnected from reality.

At the next panel discussion Marinette was a guest speaker for, "Graphic Design for Popular Media", she was in her element. She was asked about how she came up with her Jagged Stone poster design and how she, a high school student, was able to work with Jagged Stone in the first place. So the whole story came out about how she met Jagged because of the "work experience" day for school and ended up designing his infamous Eiffel Tower sunglasses. The rest snowballed from there. Other panel members included book jacket designers, album cover artists, and movie and album poster graphic artists.

Alya was very excited to be on the "Superheroes in the News" panel along with Nadja Chamak and the TVi cameraman. She had the added bonus of being the Superhero Jeopardy champion - which some claimed was not fair since The Ladyblog was the source for many of the questions.

Nino enjoyed the "Creating Soundtracks for Movies/Television" panel, Nathaniel was thoroughly lost in the comic artist panels, and Marc enjoyed the writing discussions.

Sabine found Max in the Video Game Room, and the two were soon laying the smack down on each other. It was fairly even - Marinette didn't get _all_ of her gaming prowess from her father.

Gabriel simply wandered along wherever Adrien went, viewing what was available. When he found himself at the Cosplay Contest, he had to take a closer look at the offered attire. Soon enough, he bumped into Marinette and her mother. The two designers lamented over the poor quality of some of the costumes, though Marinette and Adrien allowed for the fact that these were fans - not professionals. Gabriel actually found himself… enjoying the event.

There were a ton of people at the Ladybug and Chat Noir Movie panel. There were lots of great questions for the voice actors, including Adrien. The surprise came in the form of a spotted heroine who (once she proved she was the actual hero) asked the director why he chose to make her afraid of cats. Ladybug clarified that was absolutely not the case in reality, but also let him know that she found the movie enjoyable and truthfully, it was weird to see herself portrayed on the screen. Christina V, the voice actress who portrayed the superheroine, asked for her autograph.

So far the day had been busy, but fun for all involved. Then it was time for the main event.

* * *

About 15 minutes before the main the superheroes were scheduled to arrive, the ballroom was cleared. Then those who needed special accommodations were let in. Eventually, all the seats were filled, except for those that were pre-reserved. Behind the curtain, the Emcee paced back and forth as his guests still hadn't showed up. About 5 minutes before the scheduled start time, a familiar zipping sound was heard.

"Whew! I thought I was going to be late!"

"Oh, thank god. I'm glad you made it, Ladybug. What about …" the Emcee was interrupted by a leather-clad figure dropping in.

"Sorry about that. It took me some time to get somewhere private to transform."

The Emcee cocked his head at that, but didn't have time to ask about it as he had to be on stage in less than a minute. "Are the other heroes coming?"

"They've been in other panels today so they should be here, assuming they can find a quiet place to transform. Rena Rouge was especially exited to be included in this panel," said Ladybug.

"Thank you." The Emcee looked at the stagehand's signal. "Oops! Start time," he said as he walked out on stage.

"Hello, Paris! Have you been enjoying _Convention du Comique_ so far?" The crowd roared. "I can't hear you." The crowd roared even louder. "For those that don't know me, I'm Alec Cataldi, host of several shows on TVi including _Alternative Truth_ , and I'm lucky enough to be the Emcee for this event." The crowd roared again. "So let's bring out our special guests, Ladybug and Chat Noir!"

The two superheroes simply walked from behind the curtain, waving to the crowd.

"Firstly, thank you for coming today Ladybug. Chat Noir."

"You're welcome, Alec. I'm pleasantly surprised we could make it," said Ladybug.

"Yeah. You never know when an Akuma will cause a cat-tastrophe," Chat Noir punned. Ladybug just rolled her eyes.

"I'm glad, too. Let's get right to it, shall we?"

"Just remember that in order to keep Paris safe, we also have to keep our identities hidden," Ladybug reminded him.

"That means there are some questions we won't answer," piped in Chat.

"We understand, Ladybug. Chat Noir. Don't we, Paris!" The crown cheered. "So, I know that one question we always ask is about a possible romantic relationship between you two."

Ladybug rolled her eyes and shook her head while Chat grinned. She figured it was best to be honest. "Chat is my partner and one of the best friends I could ever ask for. It's what helps keep us in sync, and I know I couldn't do what I do without him. But I don't feel any romantic feelings toward him."

"As always, I'm here to protect Ladybug and fight by her side. She is truly one of my best friends and I'm glad she's my supervillain-fighting partner. And I'm hopeful Miladybug will view me as more than her partner some day. But alas, I am not the one who has her heart."

"And don't go asking who it is. It's someone in my civilian life, and knowing that name would be too much of a risk," Ladybug said, stomping her food down for good measure.

"Okay, we'll stay away from romance for now," Alec smiled as he changed the subject. "What about your fighting styles. Do you do any training?"

"As most of Paris is aware, we do patrols to look for Akumas before they cause too much damage. We also try to stop crime if we can, but most of that is left to the everyday heroes in the police and other emergency services," Ladybug replied. Then her bug phone beeped. She looked at it and smiled while Chat Noir continued…

"On patrols we also sometimes do mock battles to get battle experience outside of Akuma attacks. I don't know about Ladybug, but I've taken some fight training in my civilian life. Again, I won't say what kind. The more Hawkmoth underestimates our abilities, the better."

Alec nodded his head. "That makes sense. Next question. We've seen other heroes every now and then. How were they chosen, and why?"

Ladybug grinned as she put her bug-phone away. "We can't tell you everything, of course, but why not let them answer some questions themselves?" If the crowd was loud before, it was nothing compared to the volume as Rena Rouge and Carapace dropped onto the stage, followed by Viperion, Pegasus, and King Monkey. A stage hand quickly brought out extra seating for the back-up heroes.

"Let's start with Rena Rouge, shall we? You were the first hero on the scene after Ladybug and Chat Noir. What was that like?"

"Honestly, I'd been a big fan of the superheroes for months before a situation arose where Ladybug determined she needed help. I'm honored I was chosen."

"Carapace, what about you?"

"Special circumstances. My civilian self wanted to save someone and Ladybug gave me the chance."

"Viperion?"

"My miraculous was actually given to someone else first, but that didn't work out."

"From what I've heard, you were definitely a better fit for the snake miraculous than the first person, Viperion," Chat admitted. If one didn't know better, you'd think he was acting a little… guilty.

"What can I say, Viperion. Under the supersuit, I'm still human and make mistakes. However it started, you are a great fit for the snake miraculous. And now I don't think anyone else could fit the role as well." Ladybug also seemed a little… guilty.

"Pegasus?"

"Also special circumstances. I was the best available fit."

"King Monkey?"

"The miraculous just showed up in front of me." Ladybug and Chat Noir both nodded at that statement. "It was only after I opened the box that I found out what was going on and was able to help the others."

"I don't see Ryuko or Queen Bee here," Alec commented.

"Ryuko has a very busy schedule, and we weren't sure she'd be able to make it," said Chat. "As for Queen Bee…"

"Unfortunately, we've had to retire the Bee miraculous for a while," said Ladybug as she shrunk into the chair a little. "Firstly, everyone knew her identity, and secondly there was … a concern with her holding onto it. There may or may not be another Bee holder in the future."

"I see. Onto the next question then. How are plans coming toward defeating Hawkmoth."

"I'm sorry, Alec. That's information that we cannot divulge. We can't risk word getting to him of any plans we may have."

"I have a question for the heroes," said a new voice, booming in the theater. Everyone was trying to find the voice, and the look on Alec's face screamed that he was as surprised as everyone else in the room.

A tall figure in a purple suit landed in the Q&A section at the front of the audience. As he stood, one could see his silver mask, his walking cane, and… a white flag? "Will you accept a temporary truce?"

Audience members started scrambling for the exit as the superheroes immediately went into a battle stance. "What do you want, Hawkmoth?" Ladybug said. "Why come here."

"I meant what I said, Ladybug. I want a temporary truce, hence the white flag. I have no intention of harming these people while the truce is in effect. I will not release any Akumas while this _Convention du Comique_ is taking place."

"Why should we believe you?" Chat was staring at Hawkmoth. Now that he saw him up close, and wasn't battling the villain, something seemed awfully familiar in both his stance and his inflection.

"I mean what I say. I don't want to fight, I want to talk. I figured with the extra heroes with you, I'll be outnumbered. As you can see, I am not Scarlet Moth right now which means I'm limited to a single Akima. I'll have no chance to create any Akuma before you could stop me, and Mayura is detransformed." Hawkmoth held out his hand and opened it as proof. In it lay the Peacock miraculous.

Ladybug thought for a moment. "What do you think, Kitty?"

"I still don't trust him, but…"

"… but talking can't hurt. Okay, Hawkmoth, we'll agree to a temporary truce until the convention is over - including cleanup. We won't go after you as long as you keep your end of the bargain."

By this time, most of the attendees had fled, though there were still a few stragglers. The AV people were still recording, and this was being broadcast throughout the convention center. Someone had the bright idea to send this to the news stations. Alec, being the consummate media professional he was, tried to bring this situation somewhat under his control again.

"So, Hawkmoth, a question if you please?" The purple-suited villain nodded. "All of your Akumas say they want Ladybug and Chat Noir's miraculouses. But they don't say why. What is so important about them?"

"Combining those two miraculouses will grant me the aid that I need."

"We can't let you do that, Hawkmoth." Ladybug was exasperated as they'd said this before. "The consequences would be dire. What sort of aid would require magic that powerful?"

"It can't be that bad," said Hawkmoth.

"Hold on a minute. As a media professional I have other questions," Alec was quick to say.

"Go ahead," the spotted heroine and purple villain said simultaneously.

"First, what sorts of consequences would there be?"

"There needs to be balance in all magic. For one thing to happen, another must be sacrificed. It's like yin and yang, or like Chat and myself - creation and destruction. We are balanced. That's another thing that makes our teamwork so good."

"Can you give an example?"

Chat spoke next. "Do you know the anime Fullmetal Alchemist? It's like the equivalent exchange in that show."

"For those who don't know the show, could you explain this equivalent exchange a little more?" Alec asked.

"Let me describe the premise of the show, as that may help you understand. There were two brothers who wanted to bring their mother back, so they practiced an illegal alchemy. The younger brother lost his body as a consequence. The older brother sacrificed his arm so he could bind his brother's spirit to a suit of armor. Now the brothers are trying to find the Sorcerer's stone so they can get enough power to undo the damage. And it never works."

"So the larger the problem you want to fix by magic, the more it takes from you?" Alec questioned.

"The consequences can't be determined ahead of time," explained Ladybug. "It could affect something random or it could take something from you of equal importance."

"How do you know that, Ladybug?" Hawkmoth was desperate.

"The last Guardian of the Miraculous told me. Remember Robostus?"

"Yes. That one turned out to be a mistake."

"Robostus wanted to be a real human, and wanted to take the miraculous for himself. I was informed later that if he had, someone else would have lost their humanity."

At this information, Hawkmoth went a little pale. Standing stoically but with moisture in his eyes, he finally admitted, "My wife has fallen into a magical coma and nobody has been able to revive her. I'm running out of time and the only way I am aware of how to cure her coma is to use the miraculous of the ladybug and the black cat. Are you telling me that…" he broke off.

"If you use the united miraculous to revive your wife, someone else you cherish could fall into that coma instead. It could be your child, a sibling, or someone random. There is no way to control that." At the uncharastic anguish on Hawkmoth's face, Ladybug softly replied, "I'm sorry."

"Adrien…" The sound was soft enough that Chat Noir was sure he was the only one who heard it. He studied Hawkmoth closer.

In a voice nearly broken with emotion, Hawkmoth continued. "Ladybug and Chat Noir, I have tried again and again to get your miraculouses to make my fondest wish come true. My wife's condition has deteriorated, and I'm running out of time. Someone close to me suggested I try a different approach, and so I ask you - will you help me revive her?" Hawkmoth rubbed his miraculous absentmindedly as he thought about Nooroo, his wife Emilie, and the possible consequences of losing Adrien or Nathalie. "Please."

Ladybug and Chat looked at each other, then at the other superheroes. Most of them had tears in their eyes. Chat nodded and Ladybug reached out her hand. "The wish is too dangerous to use, but that doesn't mean there aren't other methods. We'll need to examine her to see what can be done."

"That's all I can ask for now."

"Then let's set up a meeting place and time in private so we can take care of this." Ladybug looked around, but the ballroom had filled to bursting again.

"Let me schedule that, Milady. I want to talk to Hawkmoth privately anyway."

If Ladybug were confused at the request, she didn't show it as Chat Noir and Hawkmoth retired to the green room to coordinate schedules as the rest of the panel continued.

"Do you mind if I take Chat Noir's vacated seat," the Dragon hero said as she dropped in.

"Ryuko! Glad you could make it." Ladybug beamed.

"I saw the broadcast. I wasn't about to sit this one out, no matter what my other obligations are," as the remaining superhero team on stage shared a round of high fives.

"Well," said Alec. "My next question would have been about finding Hawkmoth and defeating him, but I think that point is moot. As are most of the rest of my questions. Shall we open it up to the audience?"

So the heroes promised to save the day, or at least try to. Chat Noir had an inkling he knew Hawkmoth's civilian identity and prayed that he was wrong. The convention organizers couldn't have wished for better drama, and figured the video could be sold for millions. And the attendees? They were just happy to have survived a confrontation between Hawkmoth and the Heroes of Paris without getting Akumatized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... I'll admit, this one sort of got away with me and I started wondering if I should make it into a full story. What do you think?


	8. Morning with the Agrestes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A look at how a married Adrien and Marinette may start their morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this pretty much happened to me this morning, and I thought it would be a cute look into a married Adrienette... so here you go.

**Morning with the Agrestes**

Marinette rolled over into her husband's arms. It was warm, and definitely enjoyable, and a perfect excuse to procrastinate.

"Penny for your thoughts," the blonde in her bed asked.

"Nothing much," she yawned. "Just enjoying the company."

"Hmmm…"

She snuggled closer, but her hair got in her face.

"Would you mind?" the bluenette asked. Her husband tried brushing the hair away from her face, but it only got worse. "Other direction," she smiled. Soon, her bangs were out of her eyes and all was right with the world - until she felt cooling moisture on her forehead.

"Eeew!" she exclaimed as she rubbed her forehead onto her husband's chest. He only chuckled. "That's it, Kitty. You've lost your cuddling privileges for the morning."

"Awww, but Mari…"

"Nope. You should have thought of that before you licked me." And with that, she got up and proceeded to face the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, my (adorably silly) husband decided to lick my forehead this morning. So I stopped cuddling. And... there you are. :-)


End file.
